What’s a TIFF party without a bona fide celebrity? For the past four weeks, during the buildup to the festival, parties have been planned. But lining up food, drinks, decor, security and the right lighting is easy. The hard part is wrangling the stars and reining in the sponsors — and their behaviour is impossible to predict.

It’s a month before the film festival, and Hanif Harji, a local king of dining and nightlife, has a weariness in his tone that suggests he had been up too late for not just days but years. Harji’s Icon Legacy Hospitality has 20 parties in the works for TIFF across three venues, one of which is Patria, his new Spanish restaurant on King West that officially opens in early October. Despite never having served a customer at Patria, Icon has booked the premiere party for On the Road, based on the book by Jack Kerouac. The names attached to this film are many: Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams, Elisabeth Moss, Terrence Howard and Viggo Mortensen. But it’s Kristen Stewart, by virtue of recent gossip, who’s become the undisputed star of the film and the main reason why all eyes will be on this venue the night of Sept. 6.

So how does a restaurant that’s not open yet secure one of TIFF’s most exclusive bashes?

It helps if you’ve already made a name for yourself in this town, as Harji has with such high-profile properties as Kultura, Nyood and Storys. Icon was approached by Alliance, the production company behind On the Road, about hosting the premiere party.

“A lot of the process of securing parties actually relates to sponsorship,” explains Arlene Belen, Icon’s sales and marketing manager. Icon works with an independent contractor who seeks out deep-pocketed sponsors long before the parties are booked. The sponsors decide how much money or product they can commit, and their influence over the party is reflected in that commitment. (In other words, if you want the waiters and bartenders wearing your T-shirts, you better pony up some serious cash.) If sponsors are really lucky, they’ll score some vanity shots of celebs with their brand.

The two big sponsors for the On the Road party were Moroccan Oil (hair and body products) and Fiji water. Harji had an existing relationship with Corby (distributors of wines and spirits), and they agreed to cover the bar, which is one of the biggest expenses of a film festival bash. “Everyone wants to be associated with TIFF,” says Sacha El wakeel, Harji’s operations manager.

The week of the party, Harji, Belen and El wakeel are discussing the layout. They have hired dozens of black-clad staff with varying degrees of charisma, including waiters, bussers, washroom attendants and celebrity wranglers. They are planning a VIP area with its own bar on the second floor landing, in clear view of the other, not-very-important partygoers.

“Kristen Stewart is 100% coming,” El wakeel says. “I know because I’ve been dealing with her security all week.” In addition to the VIP names attached to the film, the rest of the guest list is made up of sponsors and their guests, industry types (including people who know people), and those lucky enough to score a ticket to the premiere (more people who know people). The small details are still being established, such as reminders to staff to buy packs of cigarettes to keep behind the bar.

Some parts of the almost-finished restaurant are permanently in place — for example the lovely large bar across from the main entrance, the terracotta serving platters, giant legs of Serrano ham and wines that Harji spent more than a month sourcing in Spain.

After TIFF, Patria will close for several weeks to reopen as a finished restaurant. In the meantime, it’s a shell, which makes it perfect for mingling. The decor was completed by Commute Home, a design shop on Dupont near Bathurst, and final decisions were made by Harji and his partner, Charles Khabouth. On one wall, there are giant and vaguely regal-looking portraits, and the huge show-stopping light fixture has been installed. The team is also working with a lot of rentals (furniture, glassware, outdoor lighting, stanchions, etc.) and the primary art piece, a full wall of mixed media, will sit half finished during film festival events.

The food for the party — “moderate canapé service,” which Belen describes as seven pieces per person — is deemed appropriate for the 11 p.m. start time. Harji and his team decide to keep things light, predicting that people will be looking for cocktails rather than a big meal. The menu — a Spanish-inspired spread of cured ham, ceviche, croquettes and puffs filled with Cabrales cheese — was planned by Harji’s executive chef, a gentle Australian man who acknowledges he has no idea who Kristen Stewart is.

The night of the party, I arrive at 10 p.m. and Harji is leaning against the bar, five-finger glass of Red Bull in one hand. He looks relaxed, despite the last-minute negotiations mostly related to sponsors who suddenly decided to increase their visibility. At the party for another premiere, Virgin Mobile parked a giant double-decker bus in front of the venue, which raised issues about taste. Another sponsor wanted to hang giant vinyl banners over exposed brick. At Patria, Fiji wanted a small shrine to their water at the top of the red carpet. The stars were reportedly demanding a back entrance, scuttling other well-laid plans.

At midnight, the room starts to fill up, and guests stop at the front bar on their way in to pick up a glass of red wine or an “On the Road” (Absolut, lemon, simple syrup and Prosecco). Belen is called away to deal with an accusation of insufficiently chilled wine and to straighten a slightly askew Moroccan Oil bag.

And then it happens. In one rapid motion, movie star Kirsten Dunst descends on the party and is escorted up to the VIP area. The entire party cranes their necks to watch Dunst, pretty in a long pink dress, texting or tweeting while someone gets her a drink. The energy of the room is instantly elevated. But just 20 minutes later, Dunst leaves and the rest of the party soon follows. It is just past 1:30 a.m., and the room is nearly empty.

“This place really cleared out fast,” says a bartender in a black corset. I agree, and posit that people had finally given up on an appearance by Kristen Stewart, despite earlier assurances that she’d be here. The stragglers pick up their bottles of Fiji water to go, and wander back down the red carpet and out of the spotlight.

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